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Scientists Sequence Genome in Effort to Fight Leptospirosis

ARGENTINA - Argentine researchers have sequenced the genome of a pathogen that causes huge losses of meat and milk production in cattle for the first time.

It is a variety or "serovar" of the bacterium that causes leptospirosis, which could encourage the further development of new methods of diagnosis and treatment.

"Leptospirosis causes decreased milk, abortions and even, sometimes, death of the animal," said the CyTA-Leloir Agency project leader, Dr Karina Caimi, from the Institute of Biotechnology at the National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA).

The researchers sequenced DNA from a strain isolated in 2007, from a bovine abortion during an outbreak in a dairy herd in the province of Buenos Aires.

Dr Caimi said the work could help increase understanding of the different clinical symptoms in infected animals and the transmission of the disease.

In the long run, Dr Caimi said this knowledge could be applied in the development of more specific and simpler diagnostic methods, and control strategies adapted to each host, including humans or pets.

Further Reading

Click here to view the full research paper in Genome Announcements, or click here to view our disease information page on leptospirosis.